Saturday, April 9, 2011

Lemon Cake With Mint Glaze

I tried this recipe yesterday, and everyone loved it, I got the recipe from Food Network, and made up my own glaze and modified the recipe a bit.


Ingredients

Cake:

  • 1 stick butter plus 1 tablespoon for greasing the pan
  • 3/4 cup of honey to 1 cup of honey (do it according to your sweet tooth)
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Frosting:
  • 1/2 stick of butter
  • 1/2 cup of honey
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh mint

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square cake pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter.
For the cake: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or an electric hand mixer, or by hand), cream the 1 stick of butter and granulated sugar together until smooth, 5 to 8 minutes. As you are creaming the butter and sugar, scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula so you are sure to be combining the butter and sugar as it mixes.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
When the butter and sugar are integrated, blend in the yogurt. Add the eggs, one by one. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the dry ingredients. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan (I use a but pan, it works the best for the glaze) and bake, undisturbed, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before inverting it on to a plate and allowing it to cool for an additional 20 minutes.
For the glaze, melt the butter in a sauce pan on medium heat, and add the honey. Stir as you bring it to a boil on medium heat. Chop the mint into really small pieces then add to the butter/honey, continue to boil for two minutes. drizzle evenly over the cake. Add mint sprigs with a couple of lemon slices (like the mint is the flower and the lemon is the leaves) as garnish, or if you make it now during violet season, the violet violets will look beautiful and will be a great compliment to the lemon cake. (plus you can eat the violets too!)